Free coffins: The new political swag in Honduras

In this Aug. 18, 2012 photo, judiciary morgue workers bury 25 unclaimed bodies in a mass grave in Divine Paradise cemetery in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Without coffins, morgues don't release bodies to the families and they end up in mass graves. This is why coffins are so valuable in Honduras, an impoverished country with a sky-high murder rate, so much that critics say they have become tools for political campaigning. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Associated Press

Summary

In Honduras, one of Latin America's poorest countries and also its most dangerous, candidates dole out another type of political swag: coffins for the destitute.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — In some countries political campaigns give out bumper stickers and yard signs. In others, they offer free lunches and supermarket debit cards. In Honduras, one of Latin America's poorest countries and also its most dangerous, candidates dole out another type of political swag: coffins for the destitute.

Charities organized by politicians scour poor neighborhoods in search of families of murder victims who cannot afford funeral services or even a simple casket to bury their beloved. There are plenty of takers in this Central American country, where two out of three workers earn less than the minimum wage of $300 a month, and more than 136 people are killed every week.

The murder rate has more than doubled over the last six years due largely to an explosion in drug trafficking to the United States and a proliferation of violent gangs, many of which originated in U.S. cities. The capital, Tegucigalpa, has grown so threatening that its streets empty after sunset, while its morgues fill up.

Without a coffin, morgues are prohibited from releasing a body and instead bury the dead in mass graves. For the grieving family too poor to purchase a casket, that means not just the loss of their loved ones, but no way to honor them either.

That's where the charities come in — three, to be exact, which offer free coffins, and sometimes transportation and refreshments for the bereaved. The charities are run by three elected officials, two of whom are seeking the presidency next year and a third who is running for mayor of Tegucigalpa. All are members of President Porfirio Lobo's ruling National Party.

One charity, Helping Hand Up, won its congressional funding thanks to the head of the Honduran Congress, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is running for president. Like the others, Helping Hand Up insists it is not trading coffins for votes.

It is "just a desire to serve," said Congressman Renan Ineztroza, who manages Helping Hand Up. The average price for a funeral in Honduras is $1,000, with coffins at about $125.

But Melisa Elvir of Democracy Without Borders, a Honduran transparency foundation, said there's a fine line between good works and vote-buying, and in the case of the caskets, the line is too thin.

"The congressmen are running for re-election," she said. "When delivering the goods, they name the politicians who are responsible for the delivery. The charge could be made that they are funds for favors, with the objective of winning votes."

On a recent Friday at the gate of the Tegucigalpa Judicial Morgue, Luis Membreno was oblivious to the coffin politics as he wept over the death of his older brother, 19-year-old Marvin, shot three times in the head earlier that day. Luis did not have the money to bury his sibling, but People's Mortuary did.

The charity's Carla Majano offered a free coffin — the charity's 701st giveaway of the year. She regularly works neighborhoods and morgues to find relatives who need the People's Mortuary's help. The Membreno family qualified.

Nilvia Castillo, People's Mortuary manager, said that in its first year, the charity gave away 374 coffins, and now gives double that number for a total of 5,000 in six years.

The program, according to Castillo, "is part of the political campaign" of Tegucigalpa Mayor Ricardo Alvarez to help the city's poorest neighborhoods. Alvarez, who founded the charity and is a presidential hopeful for 2013, secured $230,000 in government funding for the program this year.